Chart Sources

A more detailed version of the built in background GSHHS map is available through the integrated Chart Downloader plugin. Go to Options > Charts > Chart Downloader and Pick Add a new Catalog and pick the predefined basemap GSHHG basemap and then All GSHHG Basemaps. Then check and if desired change the destination path name to suite your liking. (You may add a GSHHG folder under your Charts directory, which is the most effective location.) Then select OK and proceed with downloading and “Apply”. Remember to add a Chart Directory “GSHHG” and add the path to the GSHHG folder.

If for some reason you use OpenCPN older than 4.8.2, you may still obtain and install outdated High Resolution GSHHS files manually.

• Gshhs High Resolution[884]

It is a big file, 230 mb(unzipped) compared to the standard 26mb, and may slow your computer down. The presentation is better when zoomed in, but most users don't need it.

Install by unzipping and placing the files from the opencpn/gshhs folder in the <data_install_dir>/gshhs (where there already are some files with similar names). which is normally:

• Windows …/Program Files/OpenCPN
• MacOS …/Applications/OpenCPN.app/Contents/SharedSupport
• Linux default ../usr/share/opencpn/

A Windows installer is available here[885].

The US Chart No 1 from 2013 is updated and includes full ECDIS reference[886].

An even better alternative is the new book Electronic Chart Navigation[887] by David Burch, with annotated ECDIS Chart No 1.

Anyone using official vector charts should have one of these on board.

The Chart Downloader Tab-Plugin[888], included with Opencpn 4.2 and above, will help you to download, update and organize almost all free chart sources described below.

• NOAA's Chart Downloads[889] For those interested in U.S. waters, raster charts and S57 vector charts are available as free downloads from NOAA. Find all NOAA charts, both raster (RNC) and vector (ENC) charts, for your region through NOAA OCS Website[890] . US charts cover a wide area, apart from the mainland states, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Island, the Hawaiian Island chain as far as Midway Island, American Samoa, Guam and the Northern Marianas Islands are all included.
• Official Inland Electronic Navigation Charts (IENC) by US Army Corp of Eng - U.S. Inland Waterways[891] and AWS IENC Download Link[892]
• Argentinian Charts[893]Free raster charts (RNC) for a large part of their coast as well as parts of Antarctica: Note that the downloadable “zip” files actually are “rar” files.
• Brazilean Charts - Cartes Raster- Centro de Hidrografia da Marinha[894]publishes free raster charts (RNC) for their whole coast and new charts for inland waters are published regularly. There is also coverage for part of Antarctica.
• New Zealand[895]now publishes free BSB3 raster charts, as of 2013-11-22 NZ has moved away from a proprietary UKHO encrypted format, to the, de facto, standard BSB format. NZ charts cover most of the Pacific in small scale charts, as well as the Southern Ocean, down to Antarctica, South of New Zealand. Detailed charts for the Kermadec Islands, Cook Islands, Niue, Tonga, Western Samoa and the Tokelau Islands, are included.
• NZ charts compiled by Marco Certelli[896]includes a better coverage of the Tonga/Samoa area. The official version does not include charts with soundings in fathoms, for example.
• East Asia Hydrographic Commission[897]provides free offshore S57 vector charts for the South China Sea. See the Note at the bottom of this section.
• Colombia[898]and Australia[899]publish sample S57 single charts.
• Many European countries publish free S57 ENC charts for their Inland Waterways:
  • Austria[900]
  • Belgium[901]
  • Bulgaria[902]
  • Croatia[903]
  • Czech Republic[904]
  • France[905]
  • Germany[906]
  • Hungary[907]
  • Netherlands[908]
  • Poland[909]
  • Romania[910]
  • Serbia[911]
  • Slovakia[912]
  • Switzerland[913]
• Danube Portal - European Inland ENC[914] May already be in ChartDownloader
• European Waterways s57 List[915] May already be in ChartDownloader
• Ukraine[916] offers some non-calibrated char downloads
• US Pilot[917] are BSB charts
• OpenSeaMap.org[918] project publish raster charts in many formats (including KAP which work with OpenCPN). This project relies on mariners to survey their local waters and upload their data using the OpenStreetMap database and editing tools. This project is still in its infancy, so only a few areas have been mapped to any extent. Currently only sea-marks are displayed, but it is planned to include depth & other data in due course.

KAP Charts from OpenSeaMap for OpenCPN[919] Each chart bundle contains several hundred charts in different scales from overview to harbour charts: Baltic Sea, British Channel, Mediterranean Sea West, Mediterranean Sea East, Adriatic, Gulf of Biscay, North Sea, Carribean, South China Sea, East China Sea, South Pacific, Magellan Strait, West Coast US, Northwest Passage, North Atlantic, Dutch Inland Waters, Great Lakes, Bay of Bengal.

OpenSeaMap Forum[920]

• Scotland Antares Charts[921]are producing a lot of very large scale charts covering “The West Coast of Scotland”. All platforms. These charts are available in many formats, including BSB3. A nominal sum is charged for the charts, to support this impressive effort by unqualified enthusiasts.

• O-Charts.org[922] S63 Encrypted ENC charts. Worldwide coverage is available using the 4.0.0 version of OpenCPN. These are the official vector charts that big ships use. Detailed coverage of popular cruising grounds is not always available.
• O-Charts.org Oesenc Website[923] and Oesenc Plugin[924] These are proprietary vector charts licensed from official bodies for OpenCPN, especially for users in Europe, Caribbean and Australia. This is an encrypted format with its own plug-in, the oeSENC plug-in. Special and exclusive for OCPN. Derived from S-57, but already in an easy to digest format for OCPN (ocpn encrypted SENC).
• Canadian Raster Charts.[925] Canadian Raster charts in BSB3 format that works on OpenCPN for all platforms without a plugin .
• Fugawi-charts for Opencpn[926].Fugawi charts are not available after Friday, November 30, 2018. Charts already installed on your system are still working using the ofc_pi plugin (Fugawi). Fugawi support for charts bought in 2018 is available until 12.2019.
• Hydrographica[927] a Swedish company produces large scale BSB3 charts for some popular local areas, based on their own surveys. Raster charts was until the end of 2018 avaiable from Fugawi via the Fugawi plugin but that service has ended. See above. Hydrographica are though offering BSB3 rasters from their own site but due a comment on there's site no longer than 2020. OpeCPN future support for Hydrographica's chart may not be closed forever. Stay tuned on the Forum for any news on this topic.
• Soltek.se[928] Selling BSB3 raster charts for Finland. This supplier has stopped issuing charts for Sweden since Januari 2019.
• Datacharter[929] a Dutch company, offers the entire set of “1800”-series nautical charts for the Netherlands as KAP-files for use in OpenCPN. These charts cover the Dutch coastal zone of the Northsea and Belgium (including the Zeeland estuaries and the Westerschelde river up to Antwerp), the Waddensea up to the island of Norderney in Germany and the Dutch IJsselmeer and adjacent ports and waters. The charts are locked by means of your own personal code, but once unlocked can be used on all your devices running OpenCPN.

• VisitMyHarbour - ChartSticks[930] and OpenCPN[931]Unified Charts a virtual DVD version of our legacy ChartSticks, covering UK, Ireland, Belgium, Netherlands,Spain (including the Canary Islands) and Portugal (including Madeira and the Azores) with UKHO rastercharts, updated yearly. New for 2015 is a coverage of the French coast from Dunkirk to Brest through large scale SHOM charts on some USB sticks.
• NV-Charts[932] has an extensive coverage of both sides of the North Atlantic. The Windows only NV-Charts Plugin[933] is needed.

• Open Sea Chart[934] worldwide free nautical charts:
  • Open Sea Chart - Vector[935]
  • Open Sea Chart - Raster[936].
  • The collection and the updates are community driven.
• U.S. inland waters and other countries[937] Links to a wide selection of ENC's

• This is a windows only program. The produced charts can however, be used on any platform
• GE2kap is a program that semi-automatically creates kap charts from Google Earth, and many other sources.
• The new Jan. 08, 2016, edition creates charts from GE, chart images and SasPlanet. Can overlay opencpn chart and chart images including GeoTiff. Support for GeoPDF is expected in the near future. Enhanced support for SasPlanet.
• Download from GE2KAP[938]
• GE2KAP now supports SASPlanet and all the sources it can use.

Terry's Topics[939] Indonesia, Malasia, Philippine, Singapore & Thailand Resources - Anchorages, Routes & Kaps.